Forbes columnist Steven Salzberg and author-investigator Joe Nickell will each be awarded the 2012 Robert P. Balles Prize in Critical Thinking, to be presented by the Committee for Skeptical Inquiry at the CFI Summit in October.

by Lindsay Beyerstein

In an interview with Lindsay Beyerstein on the Point of Inquiry podcast, Offit spoke about the early 2015 measles outbreak at Disneyland, the anti-vaccination movement, and the importance of vaccination.

In the pages of the Skeptical Inquirer and elsewhere in the skeptical literature, you can read about a seemingly endless array of snake oil remedies, dubious health claims, questionable practices, ineffective regulation, and shortcomings of mainstream medicine.

Recently obtained FBI files shatter Sylvia Browne’s insinuation that she had a relationship with federal law enforcement and show that the only interest the agency had in Browne was investigating her for fraud.

So, how did The Amazing Randi escape not only from the cell that kept him a prisoner but also from the building of the police station in Valleyfield Quebec? Here is the ingenious solution devised by Randi.

Supporters of alternative medicine and purveyors of quack remedies love to criticize conventional medicine and science. They keep repeating the same tired arguments that are easily rebutted. This handy guide will help skeptics answer common criticisms from doctor-bashers.

Norman Mailer coined the word factoids to describe facts that have no existence before appearing in a magazine or newspaper, but once they do appear they are accepted without question. Some global warming deniers are especially fond of them.

by Matthew J. Sharps, Schuyler W. Liao, and Megan R. Herrera

Research on belief in the 2012 “apocalypse” demonstrates that specific psychological processes contributed directly to the maintenance of paranormal apocalyptic beliefs, even after the apocalypse did not occur.

A much-hyped two-hour Discovery Channel “documentary” delved into a decades-old pseudo-mystery known as the Dyatlov Pass incident in which nine Russian skiers died under unclear circumstances in the Ural Mountains.

Content copyright CSI or the respective copyright holders. Do not redistribute without obtaining permission. Thanks to the ESO for the image of the Helix Nebula, also NASA, ESA and the Hubble Heritage Team for the image of NGC 3808B (ARP 87).